Christine Phillips's Blog

The Poet's Soul

Blog Posted:10/11/2013 12:00:00 PM

Dear Soupers:

Can you ever unravel the poets’ soul? Can anyone ever understand clearly the thingswe experience, feel and express? How can we as poets contribute to this changing, deceptive world? Do you write because you have been given a topic? Or do you write because you feel and experience? Please let me know what are your thoughts on this matter.

[In addition, sorry that I cannot be here frequently. I back on the road again].

Post Comments

Hopefully, we contribute by expressing in words what others are thinking & feeling, but to contribute, we have to share (just my opinion)...This past year while I was pregnant, I wrote only for me. I went almost an entire year without posting. I came back bcs I enjoy being a part of the PS community. I enjoy sharing. Some poems are personal while others are complete works of fiction. Sometimes I'm just having fun! I like to write for contests, too. They can be a challenge and get me out of my comfort zone. I think we ALL write for an audience whether it's for 1 or 1000. I tell my 6 year old son his handwriting has to be legible bcs the purpose of writing is to communicate with others.

I think many people write for many different reasons. Some write for self satisfaction, some for others to read their works, some for fun, like a hobby, some because they simply cannot NOT write. I think I fall into all of these categories depending on what I'm writing. I was writing about my experiences and personal feelings when I started out 14 years ago, but when I'd exhausted those topics, I looked for the contests to challenge me. Now I am finding myself more likely to do only the ones that truly interest me. However, I have to say that I have sometimes tried challenges that seemed too restrictive at first. By stretching oneself, I think one can be pleasantly surprised.

All of the above--in response to a topic idea and to life experiences as well and a combination of the two, but let's face it, like Chris says, the best poetry flows from a passionate personal experience.

just looking at what frank's saying below...I LOVE metaphor in poetry, BUT not when the poem is so dense and jam packed with metaphor that it is incomprehensible, I've read a few like that on this site...by and large, I write from experience and feeling, but sometimes a contest theme will spark my interest and I will try to write something for it that is meaningful to me at the same time; it's rare that I would write a purely fictional piece for a contest...I do agree that the best poetry is written from personal experience...contests that have lots of rules and regulations and ask the poet to write in weird, wacky and restrictive forms aren't really my cup of tea!